Honing device for electric razor blades



Dee. 6, 1955 R. D. IRVINE HONING DEVICE FOR ELECTRIC RAZOR BLADES Filed Aug. 25, 1954 mm W R We, man R E N Y A mm United States. Patent HONING DEVICE FOR ELECTRIC RAZOR BLADES Rayner D. Irvine, San Diego, Calif. Application August 23, 1954, Serial No. 452,404

Claims. (or. 51-59 The present invention relates generally to blade sharpening devices and more particularly to a honing device for electric razor blades.

The primary object of this invention is toprovide a honing device for sharpening the blades of electric razors and in which the blades are held in accurate alignment withand biased into grinding relation with the hone.

Another object of this invention is to provide a honing device contained in a simple. manually held case, the sharpening being accomplished by sliding one portion of the case against the other.

Another object of this invention is to provide a honing device in whichv the hone itself is offset relative to the center of the holder, or otherwise offset relative to the blade, and is reversible, so that wear can be distributed evenly over the surface of the hone to extend its useful life and efiiciency.

Another object of this invention is to provide a honing device which is adapted for fabrication from many different materials, so that the choiceof material can be according to the dictates of availability andprice considerations,

the exact sizes and. proportions being matterseasily determined to suit particular conditions and needs.

Another object of this invention is to provide 'a honing device which 'is inexpensive and practicable'to manu-' facture.

Finally, it is an object of this invention to provide a honing device ofthe aforementioned character which is simple, safe and convenient to use, and which will give generally efficient and durable service.

With these and other objects definitely in view, this invention consists in the novel construction, combination and arrangement of elements and portions as will be hereinafter fully described in the. specification, particularly pointedout in the claims andillustratedin the drawing which forms a material part of this disclosure and wherein similar characters of reference indicate similar or identical elements and portions throughout the specification and throughout the views of the drawing, and in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the device with the two portions thereof separated and one portion inverted to show the structure thereof.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Big. 3 is a sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Fig.2.

.Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view of a blade sharpened by the present device.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view of a blade sharpened by normal methods.

Figs. 4 and 5 are included for explanatory purposes only, and do not represent structure claimed in this application.

Referring now to the drawing in detail, the device comprises, in brief, a casing containing a blade holder 12 and a lid 14 carrying a hone 16. The casing 10 is a substantially rectangular box having sides 18, ends 20; and a top panel 22. The casing may be of; unitary structure or assembled from individual elements as de sired. To allow access to this casing 10, there is provided a bottom panel 24 which is secured by means of screws 26. The sides 18 extend upwardly beyond the top panel 22 to provide longitudinal guide rails 28. i

The blade holder 12 is an elongated member comprising a block 30'having a longitudinal slot, 32 cut vertically into its upper surface, saidblock also having longitudinal flanges 34 extending from each side thereof at the. lower edges, the whole constituting an element having sub} stantially the shape of an inverted T incross section. The block 30 projects upwardly through a longitudinal rectangular opening 36 cut substantially centrally in the top panel 22, its upward movement being limited by the flanges 34 which engage theunderside of said top panel on each side of said opening. The blade. holder 12 is biased upwardly by an arcuate leaf spring 38 which fits tightly into and is held by a shallow, arcuate recess 40 in the bottom panel 24. The ends of the spring 38 are turned slightly downwardly as indicated at 42 and bear against the underside of the bladeholder 12.

The lid 14 is generally rectangular and is slightly wider than the casing 10, said lid having paralleLlongitudi'nal grooves 44 adjacent the sides thereof spaced to fit over the guide rails 28, so that the lid slides smoothly on the casing. The hone 16 is fitted snugly into a. rectangular socket 46 in the underside of the lid 14, said socket being laterally offset from the longitudinal center line of the lid as shown in Fig. 3. i

The hone 16 is preferably square in cross section and, as such, may be fitted into the socket 46 with any one of the four longitudinal faces exposed. The hone 16 may thus be turnedv when necessary so. that all faces are Worn evenly. Further, due to the lateral offset of the hone in the lid 14, the sharpening area is offset to one side of the hone surface. .It will thus be evident that by reversing the honey in the lid, 14 by turning the hone end to end relative to the lid 14', other portions of the hone may be brought into use, so distributing the wear still 192 evenly. I i

The. blade 48 as illustrated is of a type used in a well known make of electric razor and is typical. It will be seen that the slot 32 is specially shaped to accommodate various protuberances of the blade 48, and it should be understood that by shaping the slot in the necessary manner, several types of blades may be fitted, therein, the exact configuration of the slot being dictated by the shape of the blades wherewith it is proposed to be used. In certain electric razors, the blade 48 is oscillated in an arcuate path with its cutting edge 50 disposed longitudinally against the inner surface of an arcuate, perforated plate. This plate constitutes the shaving head and, when the head is pressed against the skin, the hairs project inwardly through the perforations and are sheared off by the moving blade. The perforated plate is necessarily extremely thin so that the hairs are cut otf as close to the skin as possible. This structure of an electric razor is well known and need not be illustrated or described in detail.

It is also recognized that a common method of sharpening the blade of an electric razor is to spread a quantity of abrasive paste or powder on the cutting edge and switch on the razor motor so that the blade oscillates over the razor head. The abrasive action of the paste or powder, which is often supplied by the manufacturer of the razor, grinds the cutting edeg to the arcuate inner contour of the razor head, as at 52 in Fig. 5, and at the same time grinds the surface of the razor head itself. After sharpening, the abrasive must be meticulously cleaned from the razor. Such a process is damaging to the razor and is inefiicient, especially since the head is quickly worn so thin that it ruptures easily.

With the present device, the blade 48 is removed from the razor and placed in the slot 32 of the blade holder 12. When the lid 14 is fitted on the casing 10, the blade 48 is held precisely normal to the working face of the hone 16 and biased thereagainst by the spring 38. As the lid 14 is reciprocated along the guide rails 28, the hone sharpens the blades providing a fiat end surface on the blade 48, the actual cutting edges 54 of which are exceptionally sharp. A blade sharpened in this manner is considerably more efficient than one having an arcuate end surface as in Fig. 5, in which figure there is represented the final conformation to a blade sharpened by the heretofore employed method involving insertion of grinding compound between the blade and comb or guard. The actual cutting edges56 of a blade sharpened by the older method may even be slightly rounded by the action of the abrasive and their cutting ability is definitely less than that of the edges 54 obtained by the use of my sharpener.

By simplifying the sharpening operation with the present device, an electric razor blade may be honed more often than is normally considered economical, so maintaining the razor at peak efliciency.

The operation of this invention will be clearly comprehended from a consideration of the foregoing description of the mechanical details thereof, taken in connection with the drawing and the above recited objects. It will be obvious that all said objects are amply achieved by this invention.

Further description would appear to be unnecessary.

It is understood that minor variation from the form of the invention disclosed herein may be made without departure from the spirit and scope of this invention, and that the specification and drawing are to be considered as merely illustrative rather than limiting.

I claim:

1. A honing device for electric razor blades, comprising an elongated casing having a top panel and a bottom panel, said top panel having an opening therein, a blade holder resiliently mounted in said opening and biased outwardly of the casing, said blade holder having a blade receiving slot, longitudinal guide rails on said casing, a lid having grooves spaced to engage said guide rails and being longitudinally slidable on said casing, a flat surfaced hone removably mounted in said lid, said blade holder being positioned to hold a blade substantially perpendicular to said hone.

2. A honing device for electric razor blades, comprising an elongated casing having a top panel and a bottom panel, said top panel having an opening therein, a blade holder resiliently mounted in said opening, a

spring in said casing biasing said blade holder outwardly, said bottom panel having a recess shaped to retain said spring, longitudinal guide rails on said casing, a lid hav-' ing grooves spaced to engage said guide rails and being longitudinally slidable on said casing, a flat surfaced hone removably mounted in said lid, said blade holder being positioned to hold a blade substantially perpendicular to said hone.

3. A honing device for electric razor blades, comprising a casing, a lid slidable on said casing, said lid having a socket therein, a substantially square sectioned hone removably mounted in said socket, a blade holder having a blade receiving slot positioned to hold a blade substantially perpendicular to the surface of said hone, said blade holder being biased outwardly of said casing toward said hone, and said hone being offset laterally relative to said blade receiving slot.

4. A honing device for electric razor blades, comprising a generally rectangular, box-like casing having a top panel and a bottom panel, said top panel having an elongated opening therein, a blade holder resiliently mounted in said opening and biased outwardly of the casing, said blade holder having a longitudinal blade receiving slot, parallel guide rails extending longitudinally of said top panel, a generally rectangular lid having grooves therein spaced to engage said guide rails and being longitudinally slidable on said casing, a flat surfaced hone removably and reversibly mounted in said lid, said blade holder being positioned to hold a blade substantially perpendicular to said hone.

5. A honing device for electric razor blades, comprising a generally rectangular, box-like casing having a top panel and a bottom panel, said top panel having an elongated opening therein, a blade holder resiliently mounted in said opening and biased outwardly of the casing, said blade holder having a longitudinal blade receiving slot, parallel guide rails extending longitudinally of said top panel, a generally rectangular lid having grooves therein spaced to engage said guide rails and being longitudinally slidable on said casing, said lid having a longitudinal socket therein, a generally square sectioned hone removably mounted in said socket and being laterally offset relative to said blade receiving slot, said blade holder being positioned to hold a blade substantially perpendicular to said hone.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 471,679 Spruce Mar. 29, 1892 946,635 Franke Jan. 18, 1910 1,146,513 Perkins July 13, 1915 1,744,820 Wilding Jan. 28, 1930 1,944,793 Kalteyer Jan. 23, 1934 2,584,077 Yaeger I an. 29, 1952 

